


Love is a Burden

by snowtamale



Series: The Education of a Wandering Woman [1]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Angst, Burn Notice AU, Crimes & Criminals, F/F, Mutual Pining, Pining, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 09:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16323605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowtamale/pseuds/snowtamale
Summary: Aubrey doesn’t know how to even ask what she came to ask Stacie for. It was easy for them to leave the ruins of their relationship on the oil rig in Venezuela two years ago. Aubrey was too hurt and Stacie was too unrepentant, sure that she made the right choice.“You have something of mine.”Stacie frowns and her face scrunches adorably as she thinks.“I thought we agreed that I won that bike fair and square.”“That was a gift,” Aubrey retorts before remembering that even though the bike might be easier to as for, it’s not actually what she’s here to get. “I’m not talking about the motorcycle.”“Oh.”OrTwo years ago, Stacie and Aubrey's relationship went up in flames along with an oil rig off the coast of Venezuela.Aubrey finds herself in the same town as Stacie for a night and decides to get some of her things back.(The prequel to the eventual Burn Notice AU story.)





	Love is a Burden

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aserenitatum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aserenitatum/gifts).



> This is a Halloween fic in that I wrote at the top of the document that it happens on Halloween night. It is significant to the story in no way.

**Berkeley, CA**

**2 years ago - Halloween Night**

The yelling and laughter of drunk college students echo across the campus. Groups of kids are walking uphill to the northeast side of campus for the notoriously debaucherous co-op parties. She scans the crowds passing in front of her and Aubrey is almost disappointed when she’s able to spot her mark after a few seconds. Her targets usually last longer than that.

When another mass of students walks by, Aubrey takes the opportunity to tag along to the end of the group. She keeps her eyes on the mark ahead. They’re walking through Sather gate when Aubrey is bumped from behind. 

The jogger waves his hand in apology but Aubrey is already looking back into the crowd, hoping her mark isn’t lost again. 

“Fuck.”

“Looking for me?”

Aubrey raises her knee ready to drive her heel down onto her assailant’s foot when she feels the prick of a knife on her spine.

“Careful,” the voice teases.

Aware of the knife point digging into the skin at the base of her spine, Aubrey allows herself to be led off the main thoroughfare of Sproul Plaza and down a side path that leads over a creek and into a dark wooded area. 

As soon as they’re into the cover of the trees, her assailant releases her. Aubrey waits to hear the slide of the knife being sheathed before she turns, driving an elbow into the soft stomach just beneath the rib cage. The figure stumbles backwards, hunched in pain.

“Hey Stace.”

There’s a sharp exhale of air and then a groan. 

Stacie glares at Aubrey from where she’s doubled over, still gasping, “Really Bree?” 

“You held me at knife point,” Aubrey points out.

Stacie rolls her eyes, “I held the stranger that was following me at knife point.”

“I was following my mark as per my mission.”

“Where’s your partner? Don’t you ISA spooks operate in pairs?”

Aubrey freezes, knowing she’s been caught. She tries to come up with any kind of rebuttal. Stacie can read her better than anyone though and no matter what she says now, the conversation is going to get awkward.

“Not here,” Aubrey admits, the honest words slipping out instead of her precrafted lie. 

“Wait,” Stacie pauses, a smile on her face as her brain puts together all some of the pieces, “you came to see _me_. I’m flattered.”

The light overhead is just bright enough to illuminate the profile of Stacie’s face. Her eyes glint, still as intense and green as Aubrey remembers. There’s that flirtatious smirk and Aubrey can’t help it if her eyes trace curve of Stacie’s mouth. 

“Not like that,” Aubrey finally says, tearing her eyes away from Stacie’s mouth to meet that magnetic green stare.

Stacie takes a step back from Aubrey and she must hear the sincerity in Aubrey’s words. In an instant, that cocky smirk has become a more tentative smile. 

“No?” Stacie asks, giving Aubrey one more chance to deflect, to forget about it all, to not have this awkward conversation.

Aubrey doesn’t know how to even ask what she came to ask Stacie for. It was easy for them to leave the ruins of their relationship on the oil rig in Venezuela two years ago. Aubrey was too hurt and Stacie was too unrepentant, sure that she made the right choice.

“You have something of mine.”

Stacie frowns and her face scrunches adorably as she thinks.

“I thought we agreed that I won that bike fair and square.”

“That was a gift,” Aubrey retorts before remembering that even though the bike might be easier to as for, it’s not actually what she’s here to get. “I’m not talking about the motorcycle.” 

“Oh.”

And Aubrey sees the realization hit Stacie. She sees the moment when Stacie realizes what Aubrey is asking her for. She sees Stacie almost instantly steel herself. 

Stacie stares at Aubrey for another second before grabbing the chain around her neck. She unclasps the chain and a bullet shard hanging next to a ring glint under the yellow light of the pathway’s overhead lamp. Stacie moves to hand the whole chain over, but Aubrey stops her.

She manages to choke out, “just the ring.”

“They must be pretty special,” Stacie comments in a forcefully upbeat way that has Aubrey’s stomach twisting.

Aubrey can see Stacie’s hand is shake as she hands Aubrey the ring. Aubrey carefully pockets before looking back up at Stacie. She’s still standing there, the chain and piece of bullet laying in her hand. Stacie’s about to close her fist when Aubrey grabs her hand. Stacie looks down and their eyes lock. 

Aubrey silently tugs the chain from her hand and takes a half step forward into Stacie’s personal space. She reaches up to refasten the chain. 

Every time her hand brushes the soft skin of Stacie’s neck, it burns. 

Stacie swallows, hard, and Aubrey tries to stop tracing the column of Stacie’s neck with her eyes. Every muscle in her body wants to lean in, to wrap her arms tightly around Stacie’s shoulders and pull her close. 

Stacie won’t look away.

With every move, Aubrey feels Stacie’s gaze on her. The chain latches but Aubrey doesn’t move her hands for a second. Her hands follow the length of the chain until she’s cradling the bullet fragment in her hands.

The bullet was meant for Stacie’s head. 

Instead, it grazed Aubrey and the fragment hanging around Stacie’s neck was pulled out of Stacie’s shoulder. 

She never would have thought that she’d look back at Venezuela as simpler times. Back then she was a burgeoning ISA recruit and Stacie just a low-level eco-terrorist. Back then she could afford to get lost in a hedonistic 18-month affair. Back then she wasn’t doubling down on her commitment to her job. 

Stacie opens her mouth, but before she can say anything Aubrey is dropping the bullet and stepping backwards.

“Don’t.”

“Aubrey.”

Stacie breathes her name and Aubrey has to ignore the shiver that runs up her spine. Every instinct wants to step into Stacie and hold her again. But Aubrey swallows her feelings down, and shakes her head. She turns and leaves Stacie standing alone under the dim glow of the overhead lamp.

-

Aubrey all but runs back to her car. Her sense of _control_ where Stacie is concerned has never been great. The more time Aubrey spent near Stacie, the less she remembered the laundry list of reasons they could never be together. 

She wants more than anything to put Stacie out of her mind. She hasn’t been able stop thinking about Stacie to in the last two years. So the chances that she thinks about Stacie any less now that she has her mother’s ring back are slim.

_They must be pretty special._

Aubrey hears the choked words over and over again in her head. 

She jumps in her car and drives.

_They must be pretty special._

Aubrey can’t stop seeing the hurt in Stacie’s eyes.

She pulls out her phone and starts dialing a number.

_They must be pretty special._

“They’re not that special,” Aubrey breathes in the the phone as she parks her car.

“Aubrey?”

“They’re not that special.”

“Okay.”

There’s a long silence after that. The only sign that Stacie is still on the line is the sound of her breathing. Aubrey keeps her ear pressed to her phone as she gets out of her car and begins walking. She stops in front a building and Stacie must sense something because she breaks their silence.

“Aubrey-“

“Can I come up?”

Stacie doesn’t answer but the buzzer next to Aubrey’s head goes off and she pushes her way into the building. 

-

Stacie’s waiting with the door half open when Aubrey gets to the landing on the third floor. She waits until she’s inside and Stacie has locked the door before speaking.

“I feel like I owe you an explanation.”

“You don’t,” Stacie says, her words sharp. She must see the surprise in Aubrey’s face at her tone because when she speaks again, her voice is quiet, almost remorseful, “it was a long time ago.”

Aubrey opens her mouth and then immediately closes it. 

What do you say to the love of your life when you _asked for your mother’s ring back_?

What can you say when both of you know that you can’t be together?

“I wish things were different,” Aubrey immediately cringes at how trite her words sound.

“Aubrey,” Stacie says, her voice cracking even as she smiles, “you’re traveling the world as a secret agent. You got everything you wanted.”

“Not everything.”

Aubrey takes a step towards Stacie bringing them toe to toe. Stacie ducks her head, lowering her eyes to meet Aubrey’s.

“Bree.”

Stacie breathes her nickname into the space between them and Aubrey can’t help herself. She leans her forehead to Stacie’s. 

For a moment, everything else falls away. 

For a moment, it’s just Aubrey and her forever girl breathing the same air. 

For a moment, Aubrey feels okay again. 

But just for that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> You can direct your concerns to me [here](http://snowtamale.tumblr.com/).


End file.
